I would like to thank kawaii-kireifor editing this chapter and all the ones that come after. Thank you! At least someone can make it though my dyslexic clutter (:

Chapter 2: Masterplan

(Sunday, September 4)

Iruka was pacing in his living room. The last time he had been on a date was years ago. He didn't do well when it was outside school and tried to avoid such events so he didn't make a fool of himself. That Kakashi-sensei. Well. One night shouldn't kill me. Might miserably embarrass myself… but I won't die. Oh, that's optimistic isn't it? He paused mid pace and looked up to his clock, the knot in his stomach getting tighter as realized it was five o'clock exactly. Five. She should be here soon.

As if she was able to read his mind there was a faint knock on the door. Iruka took his deepest breath possible and opened the door. Iruka's first thought when he looked at her, that she was beautiful. She had chocolate colored hair, very much like his, that ended in a jagged cut around her chin. She had small dark eyes placed on a well-sculpted face, and her dress was loose and flowly, a simple A-frame black one with red trim that went to her feet. Her gaze brushed over Iruka's body and settled on her feet as she obsessively twirled a piece of her dress in her hands.

Realizing he was holding his breath, he let it out in one quick whoosh. "Hello." He finally whispered.

"Hello." She mumbled back, too interested in her shoes to look up.

"What's your name?"

"Oh. Umm… Gen Aiko." She said softly, still staring downward.

"Well, let's go Aiko-san."

"Please," the figure next to him mumbled, "just Aiko."

"Ok." Iruka said. Where did Kakashi find this little gem? "You can call me Iruka, then." He had never seen her before. True, he didn't know everybody in the village, especially if they didn't work at the Academy, didn't have kids there, or wasn't a nin. But he would guess a nice looking girl like her would have been brought up at least a couple time in the teacher's lounge. There were a few males, especially the jounin teachers (-coughKakashicough-), that seemed to ooze sexual perverted talk about the other gender. Well, at leastwhen there were no girls around to hit them, of course. Sincealot of the teachers shared the same lounge, it was hard to not over hear the conversations sometimes.

They walked slowly to the nearest restaurant, a small cafe of sorts. It was really the best place to get Iruka back into dating. The small atmosphere put less pressure on the seriousness of the date and also made it unlikely for anybody from the academy to come in and bother them. With not much to talk about, Iruka found himself rambling about his students, much to Aiko's chagrin.

"Your children," She interrupted quickly as Iruka appeared ready to start his fifth story, "sound... adorable. If you go for sticky little runts."

"Don't want children?" Iruka asked, trying to keep the faint smile on his lips.

"No." She said too quickly. "Uh, well, at least not right now. Maybe... maybe sometime in distant future. I guess as a teacher you want a bunch."

Iruka shrugged, laughing, nervously looking around like he was about to admit to worse sin he had thought about. "I'm not sure about that. I love children, but they're other people's children. At the end of the day, I get to pass them off to their parents. Can't quite do that with my own."

Her eyes flashed with excitement. This was the first interesting topic that night. "So the pure teacher has an evil streak."

A positively adorable hot flash crossed the bridge of Iruka's nose, illuminating his scar. "I-I-I—" He started, wringing hands, nervous for some reason.

Aiko chuckled, placing a hand lightly on Iruka's. "It's ok, I won't tell anybody."

Iruka laughed nervously. "Just our little secret."

Aiko raised an eyebrow, but agreed.

The food was soon served and they both ate in silence. They decided to skip any dessert, both main meals had been enough to fill them up.

Outside, Iruka asked, "Would you let me walk you home?" A cold breeze rushed by and Iruka instinctively wrapped his arms around his body.

"I will be fine." She replied curtly.

"Are you sure? It's getting dark out." The faint glow of dusk was slowly fading and the warm weather was being swept away with the present breeze. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"No, no, I will be fine. Anyways, I believe Kakashi would like to see me."

"To give a report on the date?" Iruka asked softly, more talking to himself then asking her the question.

"Yeah. I live near him, that's how he found me. Well, I should be going."

"You should at least take my jacket. It is cold out here." She paused, and watched as he shuffled out of the simple army green jacket and, hand out stretched, offered it to her. She blinked a second, not moving. Iruka smiled like he was trying to prove it wasn't poison. She still didn't take it, so he gently wrapped it around her, making sure to pull it tight in the front. She blinked again, almost surprised at what had happened. Iruka froze, facing her. Kiss goodnight...? It's the first date... don't want to be too forward...

He decided against it as he flashed her a smile. "I hope I will be able to see you soon?"

Her face flushed red and she started to impulsively chew on her lower lip. "I-I-I don't know."

His face fell into a pout, an I-usually-get-my-way-with-this-pout-so-give-in look. "You didn't have a good time?"

"No, no, I had a good time, I just..." She made some vague gestures with her hands as if that would explain it all.

"It's ok." He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear her explanation. She could very well be lying about having a good time. "Stop by sometime. Even just to say hi and nothing more." She nodded to this. "Good. Take care, Aiko."

"You too, Iruka."

And they parted ways, walking to opposite ends of the town.

Kakashi was lounging on his couch, randomly scratching one of his nin-dog that was lying on top of his chest. "Hmmm... it's been a few hours now, Pakkun. Could they have actually had a good time?" The dog growled lazily, shifting so his owner was petting his head instead of his back.

There was a loud demanding knock on the front door, a knock that Tsundae used on a bad day.

"Oh it sounds like they didn't." He waved with his hand, allowing the door to open and its knocker walk in. His eye glanced over the new visitor, his smirk hidden by his mask. "Well hello Aiko."

"Don't call me that." The girl hissed, chewing on her lower lip when she wasn't talking. "Ok, I did it. We went on a date. And by the gods, he almost gave me a kiss goodnight. This more than makes up for the bet we had."

Kakashi chuckled. "Nice jacket. Is it cold out?" She mumbled something in return and squeezed her way out of it. "Did you have fun?"

"He kept talking about his kids. Does he have a one track mind or something?"

"Maybe if you did something suggestive, he would have concentrated on something else."

The girl wrinkled her nose. "You are a pervert, Kakashi."

The man laughed, gently pushing Pakkun off him, and standing up. "I like the perfume. Lavender?" The girl just grumbled. "Whose clothes?"

"Kurenai."

"Did you explain you needed them for a date?"

"No, of course not. She would have died laughing at me. Its bad enough you know and I had to do it in the first place. I'm not going to let other people know."

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow. "You really had that miserable of a time? I thought you two were good for each other."

"Going on a date with a guy is not my idea of a good time." The girl mumbled back, but, for a second there, her voice sounded... gruffer.

"Well, you've done the bet, you're free to go." The girl grumbled again, reaching behind her and from somewhere retrieved a long needle. She placed it into her mouth, chewing lightly on it.

"You should wait until you get out of those clothes before you do that." Kakashi snickered.

"And you, Kakashi, should shut the hell up." She snapped back.

"Tisk, tisk, there goes that nasty tongue of yours."

"Kakashi—" There was a pause. "I don't think you want to know what my tongue can do." Kakashi just raised another eyebrow, smirking to himself. Quite a spirited one.

"Good night," the person hissed and poofed themselves out of there.